08/24/2017 – Ephemeris – Centaur or Teapot?

Ephemeris for Thursday, August 24th. The Sun rises at 6:55. It’ll be up for 13 hours and 36 minutes, setting at 8:32. The Moon, 3 days past new, will set at 10:17 this evening.

This time of year when the bright Moon near full is reluctant leave the evening sky the Moon after New is taking its time to enter the evening sky. Three days after new and the Moon sets at the end of twilight. At that time the constellation of Sagittarius the archer is low and due south in our sky. Sagittarius is a centaur, one of two in the sky. These half man and half horse creatures are rarely seen outside of Harry Potter movies. Since we’re more familiar with teapots, the stars here make a very passable stout little teapot of the children’s song. The Milky Way even looks like steam rising from the spout. And as the night progresses or the days go by, the teapot will tilt to pour its tea on the southwestern horizon.

The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.

Addendum

Sagittarius finder animation for 2017 with Saturn nearby. Created using Stellarium and GIMP